Bug 2368764 (CVE-2025-5278)

Summary: CVE-2025-5278 coreutils: Heap Buffer Under-Read in GNU Coreutils sort via Key Specification
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: crizzo, dfreiber, drow, jburrell, jmitchel, jtanner, kshier, vkumar
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in GNU Coreutils. The sort utility's begfield() function is vulnerable to a heap buffer under-read. The program may access memory outside the allocated buffer if a user runs a crafted command using the traditional key format. A malicious input could lead to a crash or leak sensitive data.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Bug Depends On: 2368766, 2368767    
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-05-27 14:09:54 UTC 
The vulnerability occurs in pointer arithmetic when parsing an unusually large key value (UINTMAX_MAX) in traditional key syntax (+POS1.C1). If a user executes a crafted command like sort +0.18446744073709551615R, pointer arithmetic may wrap around and return a pointer before the start of the allocated buffer. This flaw can lead to an out-of-bounds memory read and potentially information disclosure.

Affected Versions: GNU Coreutils versions 7.2 through the current version
are affected.